When is a bodger not a bodger?

I always thought a bodger was someone who made chairs. “no, no, no!” corrected a chair maker. “The bodger cut wood into chair leg lengths.” So it seems feasible to me that the bodger could also have made chair legs…? What do you think?

Bodger or no bodger I have never seen such decorated chairs as some of these. Peter Tree was busy working away on his designs even as I photographed his work.

There was also a man who boasted that he was England’s last traditional wood bucket maker!

Seems a curious job to me, but he claimed that he was never out of work. In his spare time he produced the cradles for canons. It was news to me that anyone still fired a canon but it seems that there are societies that do just that.

Please don’t email me and ask at whom they fire the canon balls or how you can join such organisations. There is an email address just behind the wheelwright turned bucket maker and that should sort out any queries.

I was captivated by the models produced by Billy Fry from Wellington in Somerset. I thought they were most unusual and very large. Not sure I could cope with one of those in my garden but they were impressive.

Aren’t these ducks fun – once again wooden.

If one searches carefully at county shows such as the Royal Norfolk it is amazing what talents are out there. These are a few of the more unusual ones I found on Wednesday this week. If anyone is aware of craftspeople who make unusual objects please let me know and send photographs. Maybe together we can make a feature of endangered crafts and give them some publicity.

Stay cool and have a good weekend